MEXICANS went to the polls in almost half the country’s states on July 7th for a round of local elections. All eyes were on Baja California, the only state to be electing a new governor. In a close race, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) looked to be in with a chance of snatching control of the state from the National Action Party (PAN), which has held it for 24 years. Preliminary results suggest that in the end the PAN managed to cling on to power. So why might Mr Peña be breathing a sigh of relief that his PRI candidate lost the race?
